Robin Frohardt: Shopping Center of the Universe

Award-winning director and puppeteer Robin Frohardt brings her latest immersive performance to The Ringling. Shopping Center of the Universe uses intricately detailed constructions and recognizable materials—frequently repurposed trash—to examine the absurdity of modern consumerism. Operating as both theater and a meditation on big-box retail environments, the piece questions whether parking lots and mass-produced goods can be considered natural extensions of human evolution. Through a darkly humorous lens, Frohardt transforms the historic theater space into an exploration of environmental crisis and the strange reality of treating people primarily as consumers.